For this election cycle, the Greenspace Alliance decided to endorse candidates for Mayor and City Council seats.

This is the list of candidates that, in our opinion, would be most likely to advance and take action on climate, environmental and greenspace issues in the next term of Council.

The upcoming municipal election is the first one to be held after the City’s declaration of a Climate Emergency. This gives us an opportunity to elect a mayor and council that will act as if it is real emergency, not just empty words

The following candidates have earned the GA’s green stamp of approval.

The GA also believes that such a Council should be led by Mayor Catherine McKenney. They know what the real issues are, know how the city works and can be counted on to take a stand and make the tough decisions on climate change and environmental policies.

The GA made its selection of preferred candidates based on information made available on campaign websites, viewing candidate debates produced by Rogers Television and candidate interviews conducted by vlogger Vincenzo Calla. It also consulted with its membership and subscriber base, and considered the voting records of incumbents and the GA’s own interaction with them on climate, environmental and greenspace issues over the last term of Council.

Urban sprawl continues in Ottawa, tree canopy and natural spaces are declining rapidly, and natural defenses against increasingly extreme weather events are eroding. The importance of voting for the candidates that prioritize these issues in the upcoming election is paramount.

New updated content: 2022-03-28 09:25:58

Members discussed the GA’s approach to the municipal election in October 2022. With the mayoral office open and many councillors announcing they will not be running again, there is an opportunity to shift the composition of the next Council towards more friendly climate, greenspace and environmental concerns than the current council, which we adjudge to be primarily development oriented. Nicole stressed the importance of acting early to seek out and encourage promising candidates to run in those wards without an incumbent. Daniel reflected on using our existing, and expanding network of contacts in the community for this purpose and also to endorse and support specific candidates. All members present exchanged freely on these and related themes. Erwin pointed out that in the past the GA had in fact gone beyond developing and promoting a greenspace friendly platform and had endorsed specific candidates.  The outcome of the discussion is that the GA will adopt a more direct role in upcoming election, using its relative institutional and funding independence to seek out, endorse and support specific candidates and to do so in collaboration with other institutional actors in the political sphere.

Action: Paul and Daniel will make approaches to ReImagine Ottawa on this subject and a first attempt at drawing up a slate of candidates will be made for discussion at our next general meeting.

New updated content: 2022-04-18 09:33:33

Having previously decided to take a more active role in the upcoming municipal election by backing a slate of candidates for council and mayor, the discussion turned to organizations with which we could collaborate. As many of our usual partners are constrained by their bylaws or funding arrangements to get directly involved in this way, we need to explore other partnership options. We were contacted by a group called Climate Justice Ottawa and had recent experience with the Art in Research collective through the art activism vernissage we attended on April 3. The Parkways for People group, which we endorsed earlier this year, seem to broadening their advocacy and could be a possible partner.  We know of Horizon Ottawa, and also ReImagine Ottawa, but not sure these are a good fit. It was agreed to start reaching out to these and other groups to see how we might expand our reach through a broader network of groups working to the same end.

New updated content: 2022-08-29 09:59:30

Municipal election candidate assessment

Paul circulated a table listing all candidates for councilor, by ward, with some commentary and preliminary choices for candidates most likely to advance the greenspace and climate agenda. First, we discussed goals and process for this exercise. It was agreed that we would present the results once finalized grouped into these into three categories:

1. Open wards
2. Wards where we do not support the incumbent (with or without an alternative pick)
3. Wards where we support the incumbents for re-election

We agreed to circulate a preliminary version of our choices to the full membership for feedback. Once the feedback integrated, we would circulate the updated selections to all GA list subscribers, inviting additional feedback.

We would then distribute our final choices through our networks and issue a press release in early October.

A fulsome discussion of candidates in each of the 24 wards led to agreement, or questions on which to follow up with a broader audience, in the 11 open wards, the identification of 7 wards where we do not support the incumbents, and 6 wards where we support the incumbent for re-election.

Action: Paul to circulate the preliminary list to the full membership for feedback.

New updated content: 2022-09-19 10:12:06

Municipal election candidate assessment

A second version of the ratings for all candidates for councilor regarding their positions on the greenspace and climate agenda was distributed. This one reflected the comments and feedback received from the full membership distribution. A few more candidate selections were finalized and additional questions raised, resulting in a version that will be distributed for consideration to the full list of GA subscribers. Target for announcing the GA selections is early October. 

New updated content: 2022-09-19 10:12:06

POP Mayoral Eco-debates

The POP coalition has put on a series of mayoral candidate debates on the environment. The first three attracted most of the candidates for each: August 16 in Barrhaven, August 30 in Kanata and September 7 in Orleans. All were well attended, attracted media attention and provided a good forum for candidate views on environmental and climate issues. A statement by candidate Bob Chiarelli at the Kanata debate, that the provincial government was planning to disallow the Tewin urban expansion approved by City Council, drew particular attention. This gave rise to a discussion as to whether the GA should take a public position on this statement. It was agreed to write a letter to the Editor and/or submit an op ed in the Ottawa Citizen restating the GA position that there should be no urban expansion approved in Ottawa’s new Official Plan.

The final POP debate, this time featuring only the top candidates by invitation, will take place on September 28.

Action: Paul to arrange to have a letter to the editor and/or op ed drafted for review. 

New updated content: 2022-10-17 10:16:07

Municipal elections

Paul reported on the GA’s final candidate endorsements, which were released to the media, and communicated to the GA list, POP partners, and to the candidates themselves. Many have acknowledged and thanked us. The endorsements were also shared on social media with our 688 Twitter and 527 Facebook followers. In the run up to the election, we were also successful in having a letter to the Editor and an OpEd published, both restating our opposition to further urban expansion, as per our discussion at the September 19 general meeting.

New updated content: 2022-11-21 10:30:14

New Councillor eco-briefing

On November 8, the GA participated in a briefing of new Councillors on current environmental issues organized by the POP group. The new Councillors were at City Hall for orientation and training during the week and were invited to partake with a catered lunch while hearing presentations from the GA, Waste Watch Ottawa, Ecology Ottawa, CAFES and Ottawa Riverkeeper, with Q&A. Councillors Jessica Bradley, Sean Devine, Marty Carr, Wilson Lo, Laine Johnson and Clark Kelly attended, with Shawn Menard sitting in and also Mayor Sutcliffe making a brief appearance.

New updated content: 2022-12-19 11:41:54

New City Committee membership

A list members of the newly reformed City Committees was circulated in advance. Of particular interest for the GA are the Planning and Housing Committee and the Environment and Climate Change Committee.  It was agreed that as a result of the election results, the membership on these committees seems much more favorable to environmental and greenspace issues than in the previous term of Council. On both these committees 7 of the 12 members were endorsed by the GA, including their respective Chairs. On full Council, 12 of the 24 members were endorsed by the GA and 2 more were our second choice as they also held favorable views on the issues we prioritize.